Hey friends,
This week I dropped down in the magically captivating city of Edinburgh for a week. It wasn't the call of scotch eggs and Harry Potter lore that brought me here though. But a good mate of mine, Justin, was tying the knot. Here's to forever, dude 🍻.
Edinburgh was a bit like stepping into a time machine. I found myself knee-deep in banter with uni buddies that I hadn't touched base with in what feels like a decade. Jokes were cracked, memories were dusted off, and I felt like a student all over again.
The weird bit? Some of these people I hadn't seen in 10 years yet it felt like no time had passed. I feel like the pandemic did some time-warping voodoo. What was supposed to be two or three years felt like something out of a dream sequence. Know what I mean?
The normal run of things, including friendships, hit pause. We all tried our best to stay in touch. Messages, video calls, virtual pints. Yet, with time, it all started to fade into the background.
Some friendships stuck around. For me, I have my good old COD mates, but for the rest, well, life happened. It's mad how quickly days morph into months and then years.
But this is all in the behind us, thankfully. This past week's been a blast, reminding me of the awesome people I've met over the years. That’s why I'm committed to dropping by and catching up with as many friends as I can on my next UK pit stop.
Nothing beats sitting down in person with loved ones. There’s a special kind of magic when you share a cuppa and laugh. The jokes land better, the stories flow easier, and the memories that bit sweeter.
Sure, a quick WhatsApp chat or a FaceTime session helps when you're miles apart. But it's like watching your favourite band on YouTube versus being right there in the thick of it, live.
I'm a bit of a lone wolf - a tad more on the introverted side, but I know that my treasured moments, my best memories, are all wrapped up in shared experiences with the mates I've made along the way.
So after a fun week in Edinburgh, my biggest takeaway wasn't the late-night KFC after the stag do. But the fact that I love spending good quality time with mates and when next time I'm home, you bet I'm doing a nationwide friends' tour. And for those globetrotting mates, I'll plan to see you out there too. Can't let another five years sneak past us, can we?
That's it for this week folks. I hope you're reconnecting with your buddies post-pandemic too.
Before we sign off here are a few gems that caught my eye this week.
1. YouTube Shorts: Experimenting with animation & repurposing content
Since I've been on the road a lot over the past few weeks I haven't had the chance to create more long-form video content. The ones I have done are all from 6 months ago.
I wanted to find a way that I could still produce some new video content but that wouldn't require me to necessarily sit behind and talk to the camera. With a little bit of brainstorming with Vaidile and the team, we came up with little short animations.
It took a few weeks to nail down the visual style. We did a few tests but in the end we came to the conclusion that simple minimalistic styled animation works well for my personal brand.
So we completed a short animation and I posted it up to my social media channels without thinking too much about them. The next day I was surprised to see that it actually performed relatively well considering my tiny reach and subscribers. You can see for yourself from the analytics.
In my years of online sales, the biggest lesson I have learned would be
If you see a big spike up. Stop experimenting. You've found a winner and now it's time to go all in.
So that's what I'm going to do. I'll keep on posting these short animations and see how this affects the growth of my YouTube channel.
But that's it for this week folks I'll catch you next week. Have a good one :)
Matt
xx